Trixie cat came to live with us in January, when the human members of her family emigrated to Australia. We knew she was pregnant, and were very excited about having a houseful of kittens for the spring. The kittens made their appearance on 11 February.

The children and I each named a kitten: C called hers Elliot (after her new “Godbrother”), J’s is Mario (spot the gamer!), and I called mine Felicity (“happiness” – Fliss for short, or sometimes Floss – C thought I had called her Philosophy!). In the continuing absence of any apparent male parts, C and J have now changed their names to Ellie and (continuing the Nintendo theme) Peach.

Over the last month we have had the excitement of seeing them grow

opening their eyes

meeting other members of the family

beginning to explore

and leaving the box

And now they’re everywhere!

Trixie cat isn’t over the moon about her brood’s growing independence, but I’ve been reassuring her that it’s a perfectly normal developmental stage and she just needs to trust her little ones. C and J thinks she’s gone crazy – “They’re only playing!!” they shout imploringly – giving me the perfect opportunity to point out to how natural it is for us parents to get a little over-protective sometimes (tee hee). I may have lost them when I got to the bit about the survival of the over-protective mother gene throughout evolution, but I was probably my own intended audience by that point, anyway!